Letters to the Editor

Ye brave souls at the Journal:Perhaps it was the pioneer
spirit of Linux that first caught my attention. Maybe it was the
sense of computing in the wilderness with no official support from
the creators. It could have been the opportunity to mangle the
source code beyond any recognition. Or was it the 'subtle'
marketing campaign in .signature files that read, “I use and
recommend OS/2 and Linux; 32-bits and Microsoft-free.” Nope, it was
the price; free. Free is good. Besides, when did calling IBM or
Microsoft do any good? Real computer users solve their own problems
or get help from the net. But since free required a full Internet
feed that is unknown in this part of the Union, I allowed Walnut
Creek to sell me a CD. Well, it wasn't free any longer, but I don't
think that makes any difference, does it?

Well, Yggdrasil slipped a tiny subscription card into the
back pouch of the manual. In fact, it was your subscription card...
So I scanned the Unix conference at Mac's Place BBS and found a
positive comment and no negative comments. I see that you are also
engaging in a subtle guerrilla marketing campaign.

Please start my two-year subscription immediately! No, don't
take a coffee break! DO it NOW! Trust me, it won't take long, it
barely hurts, and you might even enjoy it... Well, ok, finish the
letter first...

Which brings me to a special request... I have this friend...
He's a good person overall, but a bit of a slacker... And I think
he would enjoy your magazine. But if I allowed him to borrow any of
my copies, they would disappear into the chaotic vortex of pizza
boxes, aluminum cans, and tractor-feed printer paper that defines
his world. So, would you please send me an additional copy of my
first issue? I guess we could call it a 'concurrent' sample issue
for a subscriber, couldn't we? I knew you'd understand...Richard K.
Evans,
rk.evans@cfactory.com

Glossary Needed?

Yesterday I subscribed to Linux Journal. I haven't read the
entire Journal as yet, but I do enjoy Phil Hughes' writing. Bernie
Thompson has a clarity that is easily understood, and I
congratulate you folks for the presentation of subjects that are
not easily communicated.

Page 29 of the July issue reads “The Open Development of
Debian”, by Ian Murdock. This one page is well beyond my
understanding. I suspect Debian is some kind of perturbation of
Debra and Ian, and the fully cocked and loaded Linux folks probably
well understand these developmental pseudonyms, but if you're
looking for a broad support for Linux, I and others will need to
understand these terms. Where do you go?

Maybe a glossary in the Linux Journal that is appended to by
the authors as these terms develop, or maybe a complete definition
of the terms in the article.George L. Clute,
geo@aircarg.celestial.com

LJ Replies:

A glossary won't fit, but we do intend to define terms that
need defining. Letters to the Editor help tell us which terms need
defining. In the future, the Debian column will include a sidebar
(or something) which explains what Debian is.

Linux Domain Names Usurped

Dear Sir,I would like to register my deep disapproval of the
actions of Aris Corporation in registering both the Internet
domains 'linux.net' and 'linux.com' without any consultation with
the Linux developers. This kind of action, which is equivalent to
me setting up something like linuxjournal.com without your
permission, does not appear to be of benefit to the Linux
community.

The Internet naming is already the source of several battles
over this kind of thing and one lawsuit (Adam Curry versus MTV).
The Linux community getting involved in this only makes things
worse. A sensible linux.com domain holding any company working with
Linux could have been created. Now we are at the mercy of whatever
Aris Corporation decides to do with that domain.Yours, Alan
Cox

Reader Tips for Directory Tree Cloning

Dear Editor,I enjoyed the SysAdmin column in LJ #3. I wanted
to pass on a tip that could save some time and trouble when cloning
a directory tree onto a new filesystem. The article had us save the
current file tree in a tar file and then remove it. This requires
lots of extra space for the tar file, space that just may not be
available.

Instead, assuming my new partition is /dev/hd5 and the
directory I want to move is /users, it can be done like this (# is
the root shell prompt):

The last step is the crucial one. The first tar sends a tar
archive of the current directory tree to standard output. The
parentheses enclose actions done in a subshell. The subshell
changes directory to the new filesystem and runs a tar there to
extract the tree from standard input. When done, the usual sequence
of actions is

This trick with two tar commands in a pipeline was documented
in the original tar(1) man page; it has not survived into the
current tar(1) for all Unix vendors. I hope this letter will help
save some time and trouble for anyone needing to copy directory
trees.Arnold Robbins,
arnold@skeeve.ATL.GA.US